Let's go surfin' now

Saturday 13 October 2012. Another detour at the start of the day saw me on the wrong path but what a beautiful detour closer to wild beach surf and golden sand, but then a difficult strenuous climb. That is probably why this isn't part of the official Camino route but a separate local route. Foam and rolling waves abound but no one is surfing - amazing! Eventually found the right way back in the Camino to woodland tracks through occasional small hamlets. The sea never far away but less visible in the afternoon until the approach to Muxia. Legend has it that here The Blessed Virgin Mary landed on a visit to encourage St James in preaching the Gospel to the folk of the Iberian Peninsula. What a coastline and the sight and sound of the sea add to the sacredness of this place. I didn't want to leave the rocks as I watched the sea crash and burst upon the land. For me this is the end of running and walking for my time in Spain. Another Camino completed, but no certificates because the tourist information offices are shut. Yet what matters more a piece of paper that marks an achievement, or the experience of dust from the road and the mist of sea spray in the place where once there were curls and the pain in the knee and the tendon that cry give us a break. Did the BVM set shore here, who knows? But I have landed here at the end of my road. The gospel St James preached is the same as the one I preach...oh what refreshment and the reality of life in all it's fullness that message holds and what encouragement is here ironically in what is known as the Coast of Death, presumably because of the treacherous seas and beaches. For me it is The Coast of Life. Tomorrow I return to Santiago. Good experiences return with us and life is richer for them.